Weekly Recap and Hudson Valley Local Links

Happy weekend! Between St. Patrick’s Day and Hudson Valley Restaurant Week, it was a busy week and there is a lot to do this weekend. The Hudson Valley local links this week are heavy on the video because hey, video is in.

This week on Small Bites and LoHud

We debuted the newest wine expert for the Mixed Case series. For the next three months Michael Koehler, the associate wine director at Suburban Wines & Spirits in Yorktown Heights, will choose our LoHud Wine of the Week, and include tasting notes and suggestions for pairings. His first recommendation is a 2011 Edmunds St John Rocks and Gravel, a Rhone-style blend of grenache and syrah.

If the only Irish dish you can name is corned beef and cabbage, check out our story on Authentic Irish Cooking. Food that is commonly served in Irish pubs in the U.S. is actually “very Irish American” and “kind of like filtered Irish food,” says David Bowers, who grew up in Dublin, is the author of the new “Real Irish Food: 150 Classic Recipes from the Old Country” (Skyhorse Publishing, $24.95).

We also served up the latest Friday Fish Dish, which featured branzino, tomato, olives and chickpeas. Brian Galvin, the chef-owner of Ocean House in Croton-on-Hudson got creative with the mystery basket: He made chickpea flour to encrust the branzino.

Branzino over a creamy tomato polenta, topped with a kalamata olive tapenade, prepared by Brian Galvin, owner and chef at Ocean House in Croton

Hudson Valley Restaurant Week continues through March 24, so expect another week of updates. So far, readers and bloggers have enjoyed meals at Peekskill Brewery, Farm to Table Bistro in Fishkill, Myong in Mount Kisco and Morgan’s Fish House in Rye to name a few. Please keep playing in our online scavenger hunt, and visit our friends at The Valley Table for details on Hudson Valley Restaurant Week.

Vegetable Spring Rolls at The Hudson House in Cold Spring. Photo by Margaret Rizzuto.

Lower Hudson Valley on the Web

Listen to Dan Barber, chef and owner of Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills. Barber was on WNYC’s Food Fridays with Leonard Lopate discussing the future of food and what we will be eating in 30 years.

About Author

Megan McCaffrey is a food writer for The Journal News and contributor to the Small Bites Blog. She has a degree in Digital Media from Fordham University and a fondness for good craft beer. She loves to bake, read cooking blogs and taste all the Lower Hudson Valley has to offer. Megan lives in Ridgefield, Connecticut with her husband and three kids.